Heroic Halloween in Rutland MIGHTY THOR "Firesword!" Conclusion

When Last We Left the Norse God of Thunder, Mighty Thor, Lady Sif, and Hildegarde had pursued the Absorbing Man to Rutland, Vermont, where the Son of Odin defeated him, only to discover the villain was merely bait, manipulated by the guy shown on the kool Gil Kane/Joe Sinnott cover above!
Now, forsooth, the mayhem shalt begin!

Poor Glynis Wein (dressed as Supergirl) can't catch a break!
First, magician Felix Faust conjures up a demon who possesses her (while giving her the powers of Supergirl) and forces her to battle the Justice League (as seen HERE)!
Now Loki enchants her, and most of the Rutland Parade goers/participants!

We saw weakened evil mage Felix Faust steal comics writer Steve Englehart's muffler-free car at the end of the Justice League tale HERE!

So a DC bad guy is responsible for a Marvel bad guy hurtling to his doom!

(Spoiler: Loki survives, eventually gets his sight back, and causes the Avengers/Defenders War, which results in another Halloween trip by the Mighty Avengers to Rutland the next year!

We're saving that one for Halloween 2022!)
Written by Gerry Conway, penciled by John Buscema, inked by Vince Colletta, with caricatures of all real-life comics pros and fans penciled by Marie Severin.

BTW: Thor eventually saves Lady Sif!

Next Week:

A Rutland Parade SuperHero Special!

And that's all the clues you're getting!

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Heroic Halloween in Rutland MIGHTY THOR "Firesword!" Part 1

Let's Begin the Final Chapter of the "Rutland Trilogy"...right at the Parade!

Note the presence of our four comic creatives, writers Steve Englehart (balding blonde), Gerry Conway (long brown hair), Len Wein (curly hair and goatee) and colorist Glynis Wein (do we have to tell you, the only woman in the group?).
Also note the real Justice League on the float directly behind the "Avengers'" float!

Steve's noisy car will play a pivotal role at the climax of this tale, as it did in the previous one.
And Parade organizer/comics uber-fan Tom Fagan is back in his NightHawk costume!

We see Loki back in disguise after revealing himself to The Absorbing Man at the end of our previous post!

"Who ever heard of Power Girl anyway?"

Well, nobody, since DC's Power Girl (the Supergirl of Earth-Two) wouldn't debut until four years later!

(BTW, she was co-created by Gerry Conway!)

Glynis is costumed as Supergirl, though they couldn't call her that in a Marvel book!

When she disappears, she'll be possessed by a demon and do battle with the Justice League!

Love him or loathe him, you gotta admit the trickster god knows how to make an entrance!

But, to find out what happens next, you'll have to be back...

TOMORROW!

BTW, the Absorbing Man, like most villains, survived this setback and is still creating havoc throughout the Marvel Universe!

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Heroic Halloween in Rutland "Rebirth!"

Technically, this material you're about to read is not part of the almost-mythical "Rutland Trilogy"!
But, since it "sets up" the situation for the final chapter, I'm including it as a prelude to the actual issue which you'll see on Monday!

Crusher Creel aka The Absorbing Man, is a long-time Marvel villain.

We now jump ahead a number of pages...

(The first panel is blurred because it really has nothing to do with this situation, but if I PhotoShopped it out, the page would look weird.)

Once more we see real-life Halloween Parade organizer and comics uber-fan Tom Fagan...

(On this page, I simply cut the bottom 2/3rds off since it has nothing to do with this particular plotline!)

We now jump ahead to the end of the story, as The Absorbing Man arrives in Rutland... 

You knew all along who it was, didn't you?

You've now seen how writer Gerry Conway and penciler John Buscema set the stage in Marvel's Mighty Thor #206 (1972) for the conclusion of the Rutland Trilogy!

Note: while DC sometimes did two, three, and occasional multi-part stories (such as the never-reprinted Silver-Age "Death of Superman" we presented HERE), those were the exceptions rather than the rule.

Marvel, on the other hand, was noted for serialized storylines that could go on for a year or more!

You will be here on Monday for the finale, right?

Reading Room: NATURE BOY "Jiver from Jupiter"

Before Percy Jackson was...Nature Boy!

...the early Silver Age teen hero with amazing powers granted by the ancient Gods!

If this story from Charlton's Nature Boy #5 (1957) has the "feel" of some of the wackier Superman Family stories of the Silver Age, there's a very good reason!
It was written by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel!
The dynamic art was by John Buscema, shortly before his return to Marvel Comics, where his renderings became the "house" art style for over 20 years!
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Reading Room: NATURE MAN "Terrible Torrent" & NATURE GIRL "Trapping the Trapper"

Jerry Siegel followed the pattern established by his biggest hit...

...Superman, when he did Nature Boy, including an adult incarnation...

...along with a distaff version...

Nature Man appeared in Nature Boy #3, Nature Girl in #5.
Both strips were written by Jerry Siegel and illustrated by John Buscema.
While Nature Man is obviously a grown-up David Crandall, there's no explanation as to who Nature Girl is, how she got her powers, or why she has a pet elephant!
(Although I note, as an adult, Crandall finally puts on a pair of tights!)
These were their only appearances.

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Reading Room: AMAZING ADVENTURES OF HOLO-MAN "Birth of a Hero" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Hero...

Art for this page by Don Heck and Joe Giella

During a demonstration to President Jimmy Carter of a new thermonuclear power system, Dr Jim Robinson, inventor of the system, is sucked into a wormhole where an alien being gives him laser-based powers, then returns him to Earth...

I'm afraid you'll have to miss it since the "next issue" (presumably the next book/record) never came out!

Art for this page by Don Heck and Joe Giella

Pencils (uncredited) by John Buscema, inks by Joe Giella.
The only other Holo-Man art was the two splash pages (by Don Heck and Joe Giella) that bookend this blog entry and the painted cover by Bob Larkin based on the Heck-Giella splash page.

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